If nerves are compressed with "restrictions" of connective tissue, and don't have free movement, stretching can cause symptoms such as these. I've had two kinds of bodywork which haave helped a lot. The first was myofascial release therapy (google John Barnes, Therapy on the Rocks, Myofascial release to find out more or find PTs who do this). It totally cured thoracic outlet syndrome and released nerves which were lightly scarred down all over my body. That increased the abilty of these nerves to get blood and energy, and made stretching possible without further compromise.

The second is Feldenkrais. Rather than strething in the direction of muscle fibers, Feldenkrais emphasizes making very small movements perpendicular to the muscle, very very small, just to the point where you feel a restriction in your movement, and repeating this over and over. It accomplishes what stretching does, by signalling muscles to let-go, that there contraction is not needed. There are CDs on the feldenkrais.com website which is use. I like the series "moving out of pain". These are very very gentle movements.

What I've learned most is that there is no inherent value in stretching. There's value in being loose enough to make movements used in everyday living easy to perform, and nothing to be gained from yogic like flexibiltiy. I've also learned that our connective tissue, over the years, develops all sorts of little catches and snags, which end up compressing and limiting bloodo supply to nerves.

All my doctors now find my right ankle reflex without difficulty. This is pretty amazing, as in 1999 I had zero reflexes on both sides, and now I have a definite reflex on the right, and a sometimes-present reflex on the left. I credit the bodywork and supplements.

Keep moving, but doing it with the newer state-of-the-art understanding of how the musculo-skeletal system works and what its needs are.

Good on you!